The Green Bay Packers’ offseason workout program opened on April 17 and concluded this week, wrapping up with two days of mandatory minicamp on Tuesday and Thursday and a team-building activity (paintballing) on Thursday.
What are the important things to know from the offseason program?
Packers Wire contributor Paul Bretl was in attendance for five of the team’s offseason workout practices this spring and summer. We asked him a series of questions to help recap all the important things coming out of the program.
You can read Bretl’s individual minicamp practice recaps below:
Quick observations from Packers first 2023 minicamp practice
Quick observations from Packers second 2023 minicamp practice
We have to start with the big one: Anything specific you noticed in Jordan Love's game as he prepares for his first training camp as a starter?
The overall performance from Jordan Love was, as you’d expect, up and down. There was good, and there was the not-so-good. But a few specific aspects that I want to highlight include his aggressiveness. I still remember during the 2021 preseason, both Matt LaFleur and then offensive coordinator Nathanial Hackett continued to say that they want Jordan Love to”let it rip.” Now, that doesn’t mean carelessly putting the ball in harm’s way, but rather being confident in what he sees and getting the ball out on time. Love was very much doing that; there was little hesitation from him. Having said that, there is the other side of that aggressiveness where there were some throws and decisions he would like to have back as well. As Love said, following one OTA practice, this is the time of the year to push the boundaries to figure out what those limits are. LaFleur also added that those miscues are a “great learning experience.”
I also saw Love attacking the middle of the field quite often as well, which at its core, is a key component of the LaFleur offense. With the additions of Luke Musgrave, Jayden Reed, who spent a lot of time in the slot, and Tucker Kraft, this offense has several players who can create mismatches in that part of the field. The last specific thing that I’ll mention is that the even-keeled, calm confidence that we see from Love off the field remains when he’s on it–whether it be following a good or bad play. Following an incompletion or an interception, Love said he used that time between reps to talk with either the receiver or the defender to hear from them on what they saw. That steady demeanor of his is something that Brian Gutekunst mentioned earlier this offseason, saying that how Love handled himself during that start in Kansas City during the 2021 season, when the Chiefs were constantly blitzing him and very little went well, impressed him and the Packers’ coaching staff.
A few other areas of emphasis for Love right now that either he or quarterbacks coach Tom Clements have discussed are working on his hard count, progression drills, and movement drills.
Who is the one drafted rookie and undrafted rookie who stood out during the practices?
The drafted rookie that caught everyone’s attention was Luke Musgrave. His ability to move as quickly and as smoothly as he does, getting downfield with such ease, and at that size is impressive, to say the least. Musgrave spent most of OTAs and minicamp that were open to the media, working with the starting offense. As LaFleur has pointed out on several occasions, rookie tight ends have the second most difficult transition to the NFL after the quarterback because of all the responsibilities that they have, whether as a pass-catcher or a blocker. The Packers need to be prepared to weather the storm of inconsistencies, but he can add a playmaking element to the offense, something they haven’t had at tight end. That creates not only opportunities for Musgrave but also his teammates with the spacing he creates and the attention he draws.
The undrafted rookie who stood out was wide receiver Malik Heath. There wasn’t an open practice where he didn’t make at least one catch. This included a contested catch with three defenders around him down the sideline. Two catches during a two-minute drill that ended with a touchdown and a catch on an in-route with Rasul Douglas in coverage. During minicamp, there were two groups of offensive and defensive players competing against each other in either 7-on-7s or 11-on-11 walkthroughs and in the group that featured members of the starting offense was Heath. While he is now on everyone’s radar, he will have to carry this momentum into training camp when the pads are on.
Does Lukas Van Ness look like the real deal?
Seeing him in person, it’s not hard to figure out why he was given the nickname Hercules. On the football field, his speed and strength were clear as day. Even during individual drills, the burst he possesses getting off the ball was clear as day. During 11-on-11s, there were a few instances where I saw him push back both Yosh Nijman and Caleb Jones. I also want to highlight one specific play-action call from the offense, where Van Ness set the edge, identified that Sean Clifford still had the ball, and then chased him down.
There was one team drill where Van Ness lined up with the starters across from Preston Smith, but for the most part, he was working with the second unit, which I don’t believe should be a surprise. Van Ness will see his share of snaps this season, but as of now, my guess is most come during obvious passing situations. Although rookies can end up playing significant roles in Green Bay, it’s been fairly rare under LaFleur that they come in and start from Day 1. Not only with Van Ness but with other young players, the Packers coaches have said that they want to see many of these rookies handle the specific responsibilities and roles they are initially given before adding more to their plate. One area where Van Ness will have to develop is adding a secondary pass rush move to his repertoire because he isn’t always going to be able to run through every tackle.
Overall thoughts on the young WR group during the offseason?
The overall progression from Years 1 to 2 for Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson was noticeable. LaFleur said that Watson’s knowledge of the offense was “night and day,” while Doubs specifically said that he was playing faster, now having a better understanding of the playbook and his responsibilities. This was most noticeable during minicamp, when Doubs came up with a touchdown catch in the back corner with Jaire Alexander in coverage and then Watson on the next drill doing the same on a deep ball. Alexander even said after that practice that those are two plays that probably don’t happen a year ago. It was also clear that Doubs has developed some chemistry with Love after the two worked out together this offseason on a few occasions. Through much of OTAs and minicamp, Doubs was Love’s go-to target, with Love saying that it wasn’t predetermined, but just working out that way because he’s getting open consistently. With that said, don’t forget about Watson, who is still very much WR1 in this offense. Both have handled their new leadership responsibilities well, by all accounts and embraced those roles, while we will see each being asked to run a greater variety of routes this season as well. Jayden Reed was the consistent third starting receiver, ahead of Samori Toure, but when Alexander and Rasul Douglas returned to the practice field, Toure got a few more looks, in terms of targets. Dontayvion Wicks has room to grow like any fifth-round pick, but has the ability to run a number of routes. Most likely, however, between the receivers ahead of him, along with the tight ends and running backs being factors in the passing game, his role as a rookie will be small. Grant DuBose, meanwhile, is still yet to practice. As LaFleur said, he will have to play catch up.
Is the offensive line configuration starting to gain clarity?
I would say somewhat. Four of the five starting positions remained the same throughout OTAs and minicamp, with David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, and Jon Runyan making up that group. At right tackle, Yosh Nijman and Zach Tom would alternate drills or even full days with the starting unit. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said that Tom would see snaps at right guard and center as well, which he did, but not with the starting unit, and most of his time came at right tackle. Into training camp, we will continue to see the Packers do some mixing and matching along the offensive line — it’s just what they do — but if I were to guess right now, Tom is the starting right tackle come Week 1. I haven’t seen enough to suggest that he will take Myers’ or Runyan’s spots, and I thought he’s been a bit better than Nijman at right tackle –although, keep in mind, it’s been a very small sample size, and you can’t truly evaluate offensive line play until the pads are on.
Jordan Love and Aaron Jones both noted how "fast" the offense looks. Can you back up this claim?
We all know the speed that Christian Watson has, and he reminded us of that when Love connected with him on a deep ball where the nearest defender, Jaire Alexander, wasn’t even close. As LaFleur said, Musgrave is “different,” because of the speed and athleticism he brings to the position, while the burst and acceleration that Jayden Reed possesses in and out of routes is evident as well. VP of Player Personnel Jon-Eric Sulivan said after the draft that during the pre-draft process, they clocked Reed at 4.37. Having so much speed in the offense will hopefully take some of the playmaking burden off of Love, with the separation created by those players and also their ability to turn relatively short pass and catch opportunities into big plays by picking up YAC.
I’ll also comment on the versatility of this unit, something I saw a little more of towards the final practices as the offense got slightly deeper into the playbook. Along with speed, this offense has a number of players who can be moved around the formation and take on a variety of responsibilities. I go into greater detail here, but that versatility will allow LaFleur to go deeper into his playbook, eventually, and keep defenses off-balance and guessing through what he calls the “illusion of complexity.” In short, this will allow LaFleur to keep the concepts simpler, a good thing with such a young offense, but still deceptive for the defense because pre-snap, or even as the play is unfolding, it will be difficult to get a beat on what each offensive player’s responsibility might be. This, again, will hopefully take some of the playmaking pressure off of Love.
Who is going to be playing safety for Joe Barry's defense?
As many questions as the safety position has, at least right now, this seems like a fairly straightforward answer: it will be Darnell Savage and Rudy Ford. These two have been the starters throughout offseason programs. We knew Savage would be one of the starters, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Ford is either. After Savage, he has the second-most snaps within the Barry defense at the safety position, and he provided some needed reliability last season. Ford was often positioned well, which led to four takeaways, and he was a willing tackler. As far as who the third option is, based on what I’ve seen, I would say it’s a coin flip between Tarvarius Moore and Jonathan Owens, both of whom have seen some snaps with the starters.
Special teams often decide fringe roster spots. Any takeaways from the coverage or kicking units?
Compared to years past, I wouldn’t say there were as many huge takeaways because, unlike those years past, the Packers are returning quite a few of their key special teams players. Running backs coach Ben Sirmans did say that special teams would play a big role in deciding who the third running back is, so I saw Tyler Goodson, Patrick Taylor, and Lew Nichols all taking some first-team reps. Another name I’ll mention is Justin Hollins. From a contract standpoint, he is not a roster lock as the Packers can move on from him very easily with very little dead cap taken on. But given that Hollins saw his fair share of playing time with the starting defense and was contributing on special teams, it’s hard to envision him not being on the final roster. Corey Ballentine and Tariq Carpenter are two other players who were working with the starting kick return unit.
Along with Keisean Nixon, Jayden Reed was getting plenty of kick and punt return reps, where he has experience at both from his time at Michigan State. I’ll also throw out there that while Pat O’Donnell has handled the bulk of the punt reps, Daniel Whelan packs some power and hang time. He has also been taking snaps as Anders Carlson’s holder.
